We are developing the social individualist meta-context for the future. From the very serious to the extremely frivolous... lets see what is on the mind of the Samizdata people.
Samizdata, derived from Samizdat /n. - a system of clandestine publication of banned literature in the USSR [Russ.,= self-publishing house]
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By August 1999, Norfolk farmer Tony Martin had had enough. After suffering a string of burglaries, he bought himself a shotgun. The next time he was burgled, by Fred Barrass and Brendon Fearon he used it. Barrass was killed, Fearon was wounded and the British State, outraged at the impertinence of this man in defending his home, saw to it that Martin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison (the charge was subsequently reduced to manslaughter on appeal but Martin still languishes in jail).
Now, in a development of Swiftian absurdity, that poor, wounded little lamb Fearon is suing Martin for damages. He will, alas, have no trouble in finding lawyers to represent him and not just prosecute his case but do so with missionary zeal and conviction.
When I was first dating my wife (a barrister) I had occasion to meet most of her colleagues nearly all of whom were not so much lawyers as left-wing activists who had simply chosen the vehicle of the legal profession to press home their visions.
These people were ideologically and professionally committed to (a) screwing landlords, (b) destroying men in divorce cases, (c) protecting and succouring every scumbag thief and burglar (especially where they knew for sure he was guilty), (d) bankrupting employers, (e) trying (though thankfully failing) to ensure that men had no defence to rape allegations.
These people are probably quite senior now and they’re mouths will be watering at the thought of getting Tony Martin in court and stripping him of whatever few assets he has left. As far as they are concerned, Fearon is the innocent victim and Martin a fascist, racist monster.
I realise that this sounds like yet another ‘reactionary rant’ but I assure you I have experienced these obnoxious creatures first-hand and, if anything, I am understating the case. What is truly scary is that, in five to ten years, they will almost certainly be sitting on the benches in judgement.
I was wholly unsurprised to learn that Fearon had been given Legal-Aid (taxpayer funding) to pursue his claim. There is a certain horrid symmetry to it; the State that ruined Tony Martin’s life may as well move in to finish the job. Fearon will almost certainly win his claim and Martin will lose his home.
I would dearly love to endorse Dale Amon’s advice below to my fellow Britons but, in all good conscience, I can’t. In a country where raising your hands in self-defence is among the worst crimes you can commit, it is far less costly to simply let the barbarians in and take what they will.
“Will it change in the foreseeable future?”
No.
Heard on the radio news so no link, but a 39 year-old man has been shot dead on the doorstep of his East London home in front of his three children.
Thus far, the killing appears to be motiveless.
With the round of tax increases announced in the last budget, HM Government reached the top of the Laffer Curve i.e. the Chancellor has now looted as much money as he viably can from the British taxpayer. If he wants more, he will have to get himself a drill and start going after their gold fillings.
According to a depressingly large number of people, we in Blighty should all now be happier, healthier, better educated, more cultivated and, above all, kinder and more caring.
But we’re not. Certainly those who work in the public sector are not because I detect that the first shot in a ‘War of the Spoils’ has been fired by Local Government unions who have announced a series of nationwide strikes to commence later this month.
“If the stoppage goes ahead on 17 July it will be the first national council workers’ strike since the 1979 Winter of Discontent.
If this is the start of a massive, bitter and chaotic bun-fight for booty in the public sector, then I give all our readers fair warning that they can expect lots of nauseatingly smug we-told-you-so type postings (mostly from me).
4th of July
Happy Birthday to you…….
Happy Birthday to you……..
Happy Birthday, dear America…..
Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuuuuu…….
And I love this even more.
“Campaigners against the European single currency were accused on Tuesday of insulting the memories of the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust by likening euro supporters to Adolf Hitler.
My, my how touchy these people are! I rather think the point of the advertising campaign is to illustrate (quite correctly) that the dream of a United Europe was among Hitler’s visions. Now I am always wary of reductio ad Hitlerum as a base emotional tool but, as it happens, this one is merited.
“The Commission was unreseved in its criticism of the campaign. Jean-Christophe Filori, acting commission spokesman, said on Wednesday that it was in “appalling bad taste” and “beneath contempt.” He added that such an act only pandered to “base xenophobic instincts.”
Since when has an aversion to Hitler consitituted ‘xenophobia’? Oh yes, silly me, ever since ‘xenophobia’ became another base, emotional tool.
First, they kicked the Kyoto Protocol into touch. Now, they’re sticking it to the International Criminal Court.
Will America’s flagrant unilateralism and contempt for world opinion ever end?
I CERTAINLY HOPE NOT
I wonder what it is that motivates politicians and bureaucrats to dream up new schemes to strangle free enterprise? That they are wrong goes without saying but are they driven by a genuine (if misguided) belief that they are helping to make the world a better place or are they spiteful and envious ghouls who pursue power so they they can wreak their vengeance on those who are manifestly better then them?
Increasingly, I take the latter view, reinforced by these kind of reports from the Spectator on the new European Pressure Equipment Directive:
“Under the directive, all companies which manufacture boilers will be obliged to nominate a ‘notified body’ —in practice, one of several insurance companies which have been licensed for the task — which will then have the power to conduct an initial inspection costing several thousand pounds, and unlimited follow-up inspections costing the company £700 per day.
Take that, you wealth-creating bastards!! And, for the little guys, a double-whammy. In fact, a death-whammy:
“Large engineering firms will be able to absorb the costs, but for the likes of Ian Stock, whose Carmarthen-based company Dragon Boilers Ltd makes copper boilers for model railway enthusiasts, it could spell ruin. ‘There is no limit to how often the notified body could come and inspect me,’ he says. ‘Any time it can say to itself, “We’re short of money, let’s make a trip to Dragon Boilers.”
Poor Mr.Stock. Still, at least he’s got the message in no uncertain terms. Let us hope he sees fit to spread it.
Our leaders have spoken:
European Union leaders have confidently declared the region’s economic slowdown is over.
So that’s it then. The economic downturn is officially over. It has ended. It has been abolished. Our leaders have said so and there can be no argument. A glorious new age is upon us when everyone will be prosperous and happy. It has been decreed and so it shall be. Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice!!
Steven Den Beste provides what I think is a plausible analysis of thinking behind the latest Israeli tactic of occupying more of the West Bank in response to terror attacks on Israeli Civilians; a sort of ‘You bomb, We conquer’ strategy.
Steven takes the view that the purpose behind the strategy is to make the Palestinians pay a price in land for every attack, even to the point of rolling them into reservations and keeping them there. Given that the bombers are prepared to sacrifice their own lives they will have to consider the well-being of the families and communities they leave behind who will be even worse off after they have carried out their mission i.e. plenty of pain, no gain.
To be fair to Steven, he expresses doubts as to whether this strategy will work but he still rather too bullish about it in my view.
If the aim is to stop the bloodshed then a prolonged occupation of the whole of the West Bank will only lead to more. Israel simply does not have the resources to maintain such an operation and, in trying to do so, the IDF will be stretched to the limit. The Palestinians are far more radicalised than they have ever been and are hardly likely to accept such occupation with equanimity. They, too, are now well-versed in the art of urban warfare and will wage it fiercely as well as sending as many ‘martyrs’ into Israel proper as they can. Expect lots more Jenins and French Hills.
The Drawing-Board calls.
Another bombing attack in Israel has left 19 people dead, many of them children. Scores have been maimed and blinded by the bolts and ballbearings that are always packed into the explosive mix just to press home the indiscriminately homicidal intent. This is unleashing of hell by instalments.
The Israeli government has promised a response and, as I type these words, tanks are once again rolling into the West Bank. But to what end, I wonder? To what purpose? What is this squadron of Merkavas going to achieve by trundling around Jenin or Tulkarm boldly seeking an enemy that has no intention of engaging on the battlefield? How long, this time, until those same tanks come lurching back to their base like snarling, frustrated guard dogs that have just watched an intruder clamber over the perimeter fence to escape them?
There is a ‘Groundhog Day’ feeling about all this. Bomb attack followed by rolling tanks, followed by withdrawal, followed by bomb attack and so on and…well, that seems to be the emerging pattern.
How strange that a military force so famous for its elan and innovation appears to be so leaden-footed, paralysed even, in the face of this new war? I cannot help but think that Israel’s current crop of leaders, veterans of ’67 and ’73, are still fighting the last war; as if they are waiting for the Palestinians to don uniforms and march on Jerusalem for a turkey-shoot.
Well, that ain’t going to happen because this is a whole new ball (bearing) game. Hamas wants Israel to bleed and she will continue to do so unless Sharon and his cabinet get it into their heads that Soviet-backed Syrian infantry divisions are yesterday’s news.
And it’s getting closer. I was returning from work tonight to find my local shopping parade taped off and crawling with cops. A man was shot six times while sitting in his parked car.
This happened about 150 yards from my home.
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Who Are We? The Samizdata people are a bunch of sinister and heavily armed globalist illuminati who seek to infect the entire world with the values of personal liberty and several property. Amongst our many crimes is a sense of humour and the intermittent use of British spelling.
We are also a varied group made up of social individualists, classical liberals, whigs, libertarians, extropians, futurists, ‘Porcupines’, Karl Popper fetishists, recovering neo-conservatives, crazed Ayn Rand worshipers, over-caffeinated Virginia Postrel devotees, witty Frédéric Bastiat wannabes, cypherpunks, minarchists, kritarchists and wild-eyed anarcho-capitalists from Britain, North America, Australia and Europe.
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